Nation-wide criticism of the Court’s verdict on one of the world’s worst industrial disasters is going on.On June 7, a court in Bhopal ordered two years jail and nearly $20,000 fine for the accuse persons.But the court’s silence on Warren Anderson who was the chairman of the US based Union Carbide Corporation when its Bhopal plant spewed the methyl isocyanate gas on the night of December 2,1984 has angered gas victims and their relatives.Hundreds and thousands of people still suffering from anaemia,skin disease and cancer.
Warren Anderson was arrested in Bhopal just after the disaster in 1984,but then permitted to leave the country in the chief minister of Madhya pradesh,Arjun Singh’s plane.He left the country and never returned to face the trial.The US government refused to extradite him. He did not even apologize for the disaster.
Union Carbide India Limited was established in 1934. The employess of the company was around 9,000 people.It’s annual turn over was nearly $200 million, and Union Carbide was listed on the Calcutta Stock Exchange.
The Union Carbide constructed the Bhopal plant in the late 1970’s. The factory produced pesticides.In 1994, Union Carbide sold its entire stake in India to MacLeod Russell (India) Limited.The name of the company was change to Eveready Industries India Limited. In 1998, the Madhya Pradesh government took over the plant site from Eveready Industries.
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